In financial year 2023/24, Deloitte were by far the biggest benefactors of public sector revenue in the UK. They had a turnover of almost 100 million British pounds more than PA, who were second in the public sector revenue earnings. All the Big Four consulting firms in the UK were featured in the top public sector revenue earners.

In 2024, there were approximately 5.5 million private businesses operating in the United Kingdom, a slight decrease when compared with the previous year, and down from a peak of 5.98 million businesses reported in 2020. There has been a net increase of around 2.03 million business enterprises since 2000, when there were 3.47 million. During the provided time period, the largest annual rise in the number of businesses occurred between 2013 and 2014, which saw a net increase of approximately 340,000 private enterprises. Employment in the UK Of the almost 34 million people employed in the UK in 2025 almost 28 million are employed in the private sector, highlighting their key role in the UK economy. Additionally, a significant share of the UK workforce are employed by around 4,000 large companies which employ over 500 people. In 2024, large companies employed over 9.65 million people, despite only composing a fraction of the total number of UK private enterprises. During the same time period, the UK public sector employed around 6.1million people, approximately 17.9 percent of the workforce. Retail and wholesale dominate Over 4.9 million people were employed in retail and wholesale in the UK in 2024, the most of any sector. After the retail sector, administrative, and support service businesses were the next biggest employer, at just over 3.09 million people. Retail and wholesale enterprises were also responsible for the highest combined turnover of UK businesses, at more than 1.8 trillion British pounds. The sector with the most enterprises, was the construction sector with over 870,000 enterprises belonging to this industry in 2024.

The UK has an ageing population – for the Residential Nursing Care industry, this is an opportunity for growth with demand for more beds expanding. Homes have upped their average weekly fees, contributing to revenue. High inflation over the two years through 2023-24 has raised fees further. However, state involvement has limited growth, which has kept care fees artificially low for many nursing home residents. Residential nursing care revenue is anticipated to remain stable at £9.3 billion over the five years through 2024-25, including revenue growth of 3% in 2024-25. Weak government funding and wage cost pressures caused by the rising National Living Wage (which will increase to £12.21 in April 2025) have constrained profitability. Labour supply shortages caused by high turnover rates have been of particular concern. According to Skills For Care, the job vacancy rate in 2023-24 in the adult care sector was 8.3%, way above the average rate in the UK economy. That being said, the vacancy rate is declining thanks mainly to a government-driven recruitment drive to attract overseas workers, which has been helped by reducing visa requirements. Rising real household disposable income had supported more self-funded residents, aiding residential nursing care. However, data from the ONS revealed the percentage of self-funded residents fell from 36.7% in 2019-20 to 34.9% over the year through February 2022. In the year through February 2023, this has risen again to 37% of the 372,035 care home residents. Families are still struggling with the rising cost of living, reducing the number of people able to afford private care home costs, which has somewhat constrained revenue growth. Over the five years through 2029-30, residential and nursing care revenue is estimated to expand at a compound annual rate of 4.1% to £11.4 billion. Robust demand from an ageing population will support industry growth. However, plans for adult social care reforms are to be released in two stages (the first in 2026 and the second in 2028), which has caused greater uncertainty for the sector's future. Staff shortage concerns will continue to plague nursing care.

In 2023, Capita plc generated a revenue of approximately 2.81 billion British pounds. The British business process outsourcing and professional services company reported a record revenue of approximately 4.7 billion British pounds in 2015, however since then the turnover of the company has decreased annually. The workforce of Capita also peaked in 2015 and has decreased annually since then.
A varied outreach Capita plc has been involved in several different market verticals of professional services and outsourcing, including significant work for the UK government. This has included NHS services and a recruiting contract for the British army. Like Capita plc, Mitie, another British outsourcing company under contract from the UK government, has also regularly generated an annual revenue of several billion British pounds. Mitie have been involved in the management of immigration removal centers in the United Kingdom, as well as the running of COVID-19 testing sites during the coronavirus pandemic.
UK government expenditures As the cost of living crisis in the United Kingdom deepened between 2022 and 2023, public sector expenditure on unemployment benefits has continued to fall dramatically whilst expenditure on contracts awarded to the aforementioned PLCs has continued to be substantial. Almost three quarters of the British public surveyed in 2022 were dissatisfied with the government’s response to the cost of living crisis.

Royal Mail PLC is the United Kingdom's market leader in industrial transportation based on revenue. In 2021, it generated 12.6 billion British pounds, which was far more than its nearest competitor - supply chain company Wincanton. Established in 1516, Royal Mail PLC operated as a public postal service provider for most of its history, before the government sold majority shares following the Postal Services Act 2011.

Market cap of UK logistics firms In terms of market capitalization, Clarkson PLC was behind Royal Mail. As of November 2021, the London-based shipping company had a market value of just over 1.2 billion British pounds. By comparison, Royal Mail had a market cap of 4.39 billion British pounds.

Largest logistic firms worldwide Air freight carriers tend to be the largest logistics companies. U.S.-based United Parcel Service (UPS) is the leading logistics company in the world, having generated 84.4 billion U.S. dollars in sales in 2020. It was closely followed by Germany’s Deutsche Post. The Royal Mail was not included in the top ten.

London Underground fares are the largest contribution to overall revenue of Transport for London (TfL). The Tube reported a passenger income of 2.5 billion British pounds in the financial year 2023/24, up from 2.2 billion reported a year earlier. Overall, TfL generated revenue worth over five billion British pounds from all the services in the financial year 2023/24. Tube transports almost 1.1 billion passengersAround 1.2 billion passenger journeys were made on the London Underground in 2023/24. Passenger numbers had dropped by 78 percent between 2019/20 and 2020/21, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023/24 passenger numbers recovered to around 88 percent of pre-pandemic figures. London's Transport StrategyAir quality has become an important topic of discussion for Londoners. With the introduction of the Ultra Low Emission Zone in the city center in 2008, residents and visitors to the capital are encouraged to use public transport, carry out their journeys cycling or on foot or switch to less polluting cars. The zone was expanded to include all London boroughs in August 2023.

In 2023, the revenue of the UK public service broadcaster Channel 4 amounted to 1.02 billion British pounds. Between 2005 and 2023, the figure fluctuated, with the annual revenue peaking in 2021 at nearly 1.2 billion British pounds.